One night was all it took: Season 3 "One second was all it took"

Peace

The back door shuts, and I glance over my shoulder. "Hey, Rya!" I say as Rya walks in with Gemma.

Rya looks at me with a confused expression. "That's different." She says with a slight tilt of her head. "You didn't call me 'babes' this time."

"Yeah, I...things..." I pause, uncertain of what to say, but raise my arms and lean in for a hug. "Natalia has the flu, and I am stuck keeping away from her!"

She smiles and lowers my hands. "Babes! If Natalia has the flu, I don't want to be hugging you."

She steps back and I watch as Gemma almost pulls her off to the side and away from me. Am I feeling a bit of jealousy between Gemma and me?

I clear my throat, spin around in a fury of uncertainty, and walk toward the bar doors. "You two are on cleaning duty today. If we want to go to Atlantic Beach, we need to have this place spotless. Gemma, bathrooms, Rya with me."

"Bossy today?" Rya says with confusion in her tone. "Everything all right?"

"No," I say and quickly spin back around to the two of them still standing and staring at me. "I just found out that you and I have slept together." I sigh and shrug my shoulders. "Last year...which I knew nothing about."

Her eyes widen, but she doesn't seem to be as surprised as I'd expect her to be.

"Everyone needs to understand that I am madly in love with Natalia and that is obvious. But Rya..." I pause and move my eyes back and forth from Rya to Gemma. "You and I aren't just best friends. I love you like someone that I would be in love with...if that makes any sense. Not even a sister, because I would not sleep with my sister. I will always feel that for you. So even though we had some issues between us in the past and it bothered me, we now are closer than we have ever been, and I am sorry if I seem different with knowing you and Gemma are a couple."

Rya steps away from Gemma and quickly scoffs. "Who told you that?"

"We aren't a couple," Gemma adds. "Yeah, we've slept together." She looks back at Rya with a provocative smile. "Several wonderful times. But we aren't a couple."

Rya shakes her head with a slightly annoyed look on her face. She's making it obvious she doesn't want anyone to know about the two of them sleeping together, but it's out now.

"Gemma and I have slept together, but that's it. You and Natalia are almost wifey material and that's okay. Life continues."

Everything inside of me is reading something different between the two of them. I feel like they are lying to me. Something tells me I am right too.

"What..." I say and pause, realizing neither one of them wants to acknowledge me. "You're lying!"

Rya quickly clears her throat and steps away. "No, we're not!" She grabs Gemma's arm and pulls her back. "We..." She goes quiet and looks around the bar. "We've been dating for a few days. We were not going to tell anyone because we did not think it was going to work out between us. And honestly, I didn't want to deal with this exact moment. We don't know if it's even going to last."

"Seriously?" Gemma argues, pulling Rya back to her.

My heart skips a beat. But not in a good way. I feel envious and agitated. I cannot feel like this. I cannot let myself care about their situation. I love Natalia and this is none of my business.

"I am glad you two are together. I am grateful to have the two of you in my life and this will take some getting used to..." I glance up at the ceiling and take another long and deep breath. "Just please remember. I need Rya in my life and now I need you also, Gemma. You both mean something to me."

The front door opens, and a loud group of gentlemen walk in. Analyzing them, they look like bikers, but not your usual bikers. Something seems different. And I am never one to get nervous about a group of people.

"Oh, they are sitting at my table!" Rya says and smiles, reaching for a few menus. "I'll talk to you two in a few. Let me go take this order and hope for a large tip."

She swipes the menus off the counter and turns around, quickly heading toward them.

I glance back at Gemma, forcing a fake smile and turning away. I set my bar rag down and pushed through the kitchen doors.

"Lace! Hold on!" Gemma's voice calls out as she begins to follow me into the kitchen. "I want you to know that no matter what, I've had a thing for you for a long time. I want to be in your life no matter how I fit into it. Rya and I are a random fluke, and neither one of us believes that this is something that could last, but we still wanted to try."

I shake my head as she leans against the wall next to the kitchen doors. "If this was a different world without Natalia, I would have stolen you by now." She smiles, quickly averting her eyes. "I don't want it to sound messed up. Because I do like Rya, but it was not supposed to happen between us. And I do not know what you are angry about but do not be angry. It's just sex between us."

I lightly scoff and continue reaching for the sleeve of plastic cups. "I just need time to adjust to this. I never imagined you two connecting. It's not a problem, I just...I don't know."